One of the horror genre's "most widely read critics" (Rue Morgue # 68), "an accomplished film journalist" (Comic Buyer's Guide #1535), and the award-winning author of Horror Films of the 1980s (2007), The Rock and Roll Film Encyclopedia (2007) and Horror Films of the 1970s (2002), John Kenneth Muir, presents his blog on film, television and nostalgia, named one of the Top 100 Film Studies Blog on the Net.

Friday, March 24, 2017

The Films of 2009: Pandorum

Important note to architects of the
future:the space ark or "sleeper ark" is a very problematic
vehicle. At least, that is, if we are to believe the examples of science
fiction novels, TV series, and films focusing on the topic.

I’ve been thinking about this matter
recently, after watching 2016’s Passengers, which concerns a crisis
on just such a sleeper ship, the Avalon.

But way back in 1941, author Robert
Heinlein first demonstrated some of the pitfalls of the colossal, space ark in
two stories that would eventually form the novelOrphans of the Sky(1963). In that tale, the vast
vesselVanguard, bound
for Proxima Centauri became pilot-less en route; and the passengers and flight
crew aboard her separated over time into distinct classes or sects (like the
mutants or "muties.") They even forgot they were aboard a ship.

After Heinlein, sci-fi television soon
took the lead in terms of huge space ark dramas. Cordwainer Bird (a.k.a. Harlan
Ellison) created the Canadian programThe
Starlost(1973),
which concerned three Quakers learning that they were living not on a planet
surface, but rather in a dome that was part of a much larger vessel, an ark.

Led by a man named Devon (Keir Dullea),
these unlikely explorers discovered that the ark was actually on a collision
course with a star, and that it --like
the Vanguard-- was
essentially pilot-less. They spent the series visiting different domes (and
different cultures) and trying to control their ark.

In Johnny Byrne's "Mission of the
Darians," an episode ofSpace:
1999from 1975, the
errant Alphans came across the space ark of an alien race called the Darians.
There had been a nuclear disaster aboard the vast ark, transforming some crew
into mutants while leaving the remainder of the crew physically intact. Across
the centuries, the "pure" Darians resorted to cannibalism
and transplant surgery from the ranks of the mutants to stay alive; so they
could reach a "new Daria." The Darians rationalized this
exploitation of the lower caste for one reason. Carried about the ark was the
DNA gene bank of the entire Darian race. Theoretically, this gene bank would
ensure that, by landfall, the Darian race could re-constitute itself.

InDoctor
Who's"The Ark
in Space" (also in 1975), another twist on the space ark format was
developed. Man's future generations -- the crew of a space station in this case
-- was being devoured while asleep in their cryo-tubes by a predatory race of alien
insectoids called The Wirrn.

There are other examples of this
narrative, both literary and video, including David Gerrold'sStar TreknovelThe Galactic Whirlpool(1980). And there’s also an example I
like very much, director Christian Alvart's harrowing horror film,Pandorum(2009), a recent permutation of the
formula.

InPandorum,the generational space arkElysiumdeparts from Earth in 2174,
bound for the only habitable planet ever discovered: distant Tanis. Early on
the Space Ark's journey, however, the crew receives a frightening message from
Mission Control on Earth. "You're all that's left. Good luck and god
speed."

And then, mysteriously, Earth blinks out
of existence. Perhaps -- as one crew member suggests -- the planetary disaster
was "nuclear" in origin. Or perhaps the demise of our world was
caused by an asteroid collision. Regardless, the 60,000 human colonists onElysiumare all that remains of the
human race...the seeds of our future. The
seeds of our hope.

The film then jumps to an undisclosed time
in the future. A likable technician, Bower (Ben Foster) awakens from extended
hyper-sleep in a state of disorientation, and suffering from temporary amnesia.
The ship itself is a wreck: no one is at the helm, and the bridge is locked and
sealed.

Bower awakens another crew member on the
flight team, Lt. Payton (Dennis Quaid), and together these two men learn that
the ship's reactor is going critical in a matter of hours. The ark -- and the
human passengers -- will be destroyed if the reactor can't be fixed. (And yes,
this is also the problem in Passengers!) While Payton attempts
to gain access to the bridge, Bower heads down into the ship's bowels, bound
for the reactor core. So, metaphorically speaking, his is an Orphean journey
into the Underworld.

And what Bower encounters throughout the
gigantic ship is terrifying indeed. A species of sub-human monsters has turned
the passenger section -- the cryo-chamber rooms -- into their hunting and
feeding grounds (like the Wirrn onDoctor
Who.) These beasts were once "sleepers" and colonists
themselves, but the synthetic accelerator that was pumped into their
cryo-chambers (to help them adapt to life on Tanis) has instead adapted them to
life aboard the ruined, out-of-control.Elysium.

These monsters -- who physically resemble
John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars and Joss Whedon's Reavers -- have set nasty
booby-traps for flight crew members throughout the ark, often using live human
beings as bait.

There are some normal human survivors left
too, but they seem to possess no knowledge that they are even on board a ship (The
Starlost!). Eventually, Bower encounters a woman -- a scientist --
named Nadia who takes him to a laboratory where all of Earth's biological
heritage and legacy is stored;Pandorum'sequivalent of "Mission of the
Darians'" gene bank.

This biological legacy must be protected
or Earth is really and truly lost.

An unexpected twist in the familiar space
ark format arises from the film's unusual title:"Pandorum."

Pandorum is a feared disease of the mind
that sometimes afflicts astronauts in deep space. The illness begins with
quivering, shaking hands and then culminates with hysteria, paranoia and
violence. For a comparison, recall Michael Biehn suffering from the High
Pressure Nervous Syndreom in Cameron'sThe
Abyss(1989). Pandorum
is the space-borne equivalent.

There's an oddly beautiful -- if utterly horrifying
sequence -- regarding Pandorum early in the film's first act. Payton recounts
the tale --and we see it
unfold in flashback-- as a
crew member on another space mission goes irrevocably mad, and ejects all his
crew into space, in their separate sleep chambers (which, let's face it, are
the equivalent of space-bound coffins).

The film cuts to a spectacular long shot
from deep space as the troubled ship literally ejects hundreds of these tiny
flowering, technological spores. Then, at closer range, we detect a screaming
human inside one of these tubes and quickly realize he is headed into
oblivion...alive and conscious of his fate.

Simply stated,Pandorumis pandemonium.

And that quality is both the film's
greatest strength and the film's most troubling weakness.

The movie opens with total chaos and we --
like Bower himself -- have no idea what the hell is happening aboardElysium.We experience the horrors of the ark
alongside Bower, and it's a scarifying descent into a man-made, technological
Hell. Then there's some wild action and jolts that really get the blood rolling.
But before long, alas, the story starts to feel repetitive, and there are some
plot points that I would have preferred to see explored with deeper insight. I
don't exaggerate when I say that this movie is madness, violence, madness, more
violence, and more madness, until you feel whiplash. It's all a bit exhausting.

Pandorumis also, perhaps, stuffed with one
narrative u-turn too many (particularly the schizoid psyche of one character),
though I understand why he's present. This schizoid crew man reflects the
schizoid personality of the ship, as well as the new cultures that have sprung
up aboard her. I only wish this character's back story felt more organic and
less like ade rigueurthird act "twist." By film's
end,Pandorumis already ramped-up to insanity; it
doesn't need more of it.

However, I have always enjoyed stories
like the one dramatized here: stories of lost and imperiled space arks bound
for disaster. I love the intriguing concept of cultural identity, heritage and
history forgotten; and the accidental birth of a new social order, one based on
the environment at hand.Pandorumencompasses all that
(and indeed, will seem very familiar to fans ofSpace: 1999, The StarlostandDr. Who).

Outside the space ark template,Pandorumalso borrows fromThe Abyss,as I mentioned above, and even, to
some extent,The
Poseidon Adventure,since
much of the film involves traveling from one end of a damaged, dangerous vessel
to the other, facing all kinds of hazards on the trip.

An authentic horror film,Pandorumalso lingers on some
extreme violence and gore. In particular, there's one scene here that will
definitely cause nightmares: an innocent crew member awakes from cryo-sleep
only to be viciously set upon and devoured by the cannibals. Grotesque stuff,
but vivid and memorable.

Pandorummay not be a great movie, but it is a good
one; a hectic one that captures the essential elements of the space ark tale.
The lead character, Bower, is drawn well enough that he anchors most of the
crazy action...at least until the over-the-top climax, which relies on a
surprise you'll probably see coming a mile away.

Pandorumends with the legend "Tanis, Year
One." And instead of seeingElysium'sjourney end right there, I wanted
more...which probably indicates the movie is better than I'm giving it credit
for in this review. ButPandorummade no money at the box office and
critics hated it, so we'll probably never see "Tanis, Year Two."

To tell you the truth, that makes me sad.
This largely-effective, technologically updated re-telling of the classic space
ark adventure would make the perfect prologue to an updated "colonizing
a new planet at the edge of the galaxy" story. (I may just have to
wait for Alien: Covenant [2016] for that tale).

Besides, there are lots of episodes ofDr. Who, Space: 1999andThe
Starlostleft to
mine for inspiration.Pandorummay ultimately be a derivative riff on
a familiar, oft-told science-fiction tale, but at least it isn't a remake, a
re-boot or a re-imagination. And in my book, that's what passes as
"original" in Hollywood these days.

It’s sort of intriguing to put Pandorum
and Passengers
side-by-side, and assess similarities, and differences.

2 comments:

John, good review of this intense sci-fi horror film. Space ark stories are always interesting. I remember as a boy, when I read that Harrison Ford was going to be in Raiders Of The Lost Ark, it stated the title only. I assumed the lost ark was a spaceship in the future because of Harrison doing science-fiction films like Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back.

About John

award-winning author of 27 books including Horror Films FAQ (2013), Horror Films of the 1990s (2011), Horror Films of the 1980s (2007), TV Year (2007), The Rock and Roll Film Encyclopedia (2007), Mercy in Her Eyes: The Films of Mira Nair (2006),, Best in Show: The Films of Christopher Guest and Company (2004), The Unseen Force: The Films of Sam Raimi (2004), An Askew View: The Films of Kevin Smith (2002), The Encyclopedia of Superheroes on Film & Television (2004), Exploring Space:1999 (1997), An Analytical Guide to TV's Battlestar Galactica (1998), Terror Television (2001), Space:1999 - The Forsaken (2003) and Horror Films of the 1970s (2002).

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